Mélanie Laurent Enlists Damien Rice for Debut Album

March 6, 2011

In addition to following up her breakthrough performance as Shoshanna in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds with high-profile film roles, such as the Mike Mills-directed Beginners, French actress Mélanie Laurent is set to showcase her singer-songwriter skills this year with a debut album, En T’Attendant. On May 2, Atmospheriques will release the 10-track LP, which was half-produced by Joel Shearer with 5 songs co-written and co-produced by Damien Rice. Speaking to Ireland’s Herald newspaper, Laurent described the unlikely Rice collaboration:

It’s a crazy story. I went to Woodstock [over two years ago] to record the album and I was unhappy with what happened there. I called my manager and asked him to call Damien Rice’s manager and organise something. I didn’t expect him to come, but he did, and we started to work together. I fired everyone and followed him to Ireland. He taught me everything about being a musician. I was a huge, huge fan, so it was weird for me to just speak with him like it’s natural…

We’ll have to wait a bit for a broader taste of the Rice-assisted cuts, which includes two duets, but today we have the Shearer-produced title track’s official video and the (possibly Rice-featuring) tune “Je Connais” below: